The Brightest Star
Prologue Stormblaze stepped forward. Her heart pounded heavily as she tried to escape. She was stuck in some world. Everything around her was black, and everywhere she went it was black. She could barely feel her body. Her senses were weak, and each step felt like she was floating. She could not speak. She could barely think, and she did not detect her pulse. Am I dead? She didn't even feel emotion. The black disappeared, and to her horror, she was looking at her own body... She was looking at herself, who was standing in front of a ugly, fierce looking, black creature who grinned as he looked at Stormblaze. But the Stormblaze she was looking at seemed evil and emotionless. And even more horrifying, it had no pupil. It's eyes were blacker than the darkest black. As her memory and logic began to stream back in her mind, she started to realize some of these strange happenings. I'm in a trance. But It seems like I can't escape from this one. And the creature... I can't believe it... It simply cannot be him... Has my mortal hater and enemy took control of my body and mind? Suddenly, all went black, and Stormblaze was confined to being controlled by the creature. * * * Shadow smirked. He had Stormblaze, his enemy, the one he hated with a passion under control. With her out of his way, and even better, under control, he could finally bring shadow and blood to the world easy. He stretched his thin, tired wings and began with Stormblaze. "Stormblaze. Transform into your powerful and true self. Then, prepare for the day when you stir up your powerful storms, and the day you shake the ground. You will start sending out your powerful storms and ground-shaking abilities on the next aligning of the stars. For five continuing days, these storms will brew. Simple; bring destruction to the lake, then we will proceed with other places. Now, transform." Light flickered around Stormblaze. After that, she was no longer a cat. She was something else. Something bigger... A winged creature. * * * Pinebreeze, the ShadowClan medicine cat was picking herbs by a marsh. Wonderful! Some watermint, she thought. She walked into a clearing, only to be astonished at what she saw. It was Lightfeather, who was the medicine cat of ShadowClan before her mentor. He died a peaceful death due to old age before she was born. He stared at her with anxious eyes, and told her; "A great disaster and horror has been called down to destroy the Clans and those around them by darkness when the stars align. There is no hope; all will be lost, unless the brightest star in the sky shines down on the Clans and be reflected by the lake before time runs out." He faded away, and she found herself back to collecting herbs. It was a day dream... Horror? Disaster? May StarClan guide us all and may the bright star appear in the sky soon... She spun around, half-done collecting her herbs, to inform her leader of this horrible prophecy. Chapter 1 "No! I will not let you steal my kits and I's prey," hissed a dark furred she-cat. Her back was arched and her fur was standing on end, and behind her were four kits, who stared up at their mother and her attacker with horror. Her dark black fur bristled with anger, as he attacker took a blow at her once more. "Weak, pathetic creatures get nothing, and the strong get the prey," sneered the attacker, a pale ginger-and-white tom. As soon as the ginger cat said that, he grabbed the mother's prey and smiled. However, to his surprise a cat leaped out of some bushes and pinned him down. "Give back the prey," he growled, and the ginger cat released then bolted off. The black she-cat, who's name was Echo, padded towards the tom and thanked him. The two were mates, the parents of those four kits. Stardust, one of the kits shook the shock off. "Father!" "Well, hello little one, now go eat your food," meowed Tornado, who was the tom. He purred and nuzzled his four kits. The kits started devouring the food, who were all thin and hungry. Leaf-bare was a tough time for stray and feral cats, especially for young kittens, like these ones, who were all only a month old. Stardust finished his prey, licked his lips, and proceeded to groom himself. Fern, his sister leaped on him and knocked him over, to which he hissed at. "Fern! I just groomed myself!" "Oh, sorry. But it doesn't matter, let's play!" she yowled. "Oh you little..." snickered Stardust and leaped on her. The two rolled and jumped all around, and ran and tripped over their clumsy paws every now and then. Soon enough, Lily and Marble, their sister and brother, joined in. "All right kits! It's time to go to bed now," purred Echo. Due to their play being interrupted, the kits padded back to their nests with glum faces, and fell asleep. * * * The next morning, Stardust noticed something odd with his parents. Eho and Tornado seemed very twitchy and restless; always with a scared or fearful feel around them. Stardust blinked and stared at his parents as they discussed with a very low voice. I wonder what's up with them... he thought. He crawled up closer towards them to hear what they were saying, making sure to keep low to the ground. He took his place behind a bush, close enough to hear the discussion. "It's not safe here Echo, and you know it. We need to move, for the sake of our kits, and our whole family," growled Tornado. Then he added in an even lower voice, "You don't want the Strikers to discover the exsistence of our kits, do you? The Strikers will kill them, or if in a good mood, let them live as prisoners or servants. You don't want that do you? Not to mention, I sense a storm coming; storms in leaf-bare are not pleasant." "I understand, Tornado. But this is our only home. I was born here, even though it was before the Strikers set their territory nearby. I've lived a life here too, and so can my kits. They're even too young to travel, and who knows what lays beyond our home and hunting areas!" replied Echo, her voice shaking. Stardust shivered as his father loomed over Echo, teeth baring. "You mean this is your home. I doubt you care about anyone other than yourself," Tornado spat, who then turned and flicked his tail annoyance. "I'm going hunting." Stardust watched his mother's expression, which made himself full of sorrow. "But I do care about my kits..." she rasped, then headed towards the den. In reaction to his mother's approach, Stardust jumped back into his nest, and closed his eyes. Not long after, he fell sound asleep. Chapter 2 "Next time I'll beat you, Stardust! You were just lucky this time!" growled Marble, Stardust's brother. "I'd like to see you try," yowled Stardust in reply. Two moons had past since Stardust had heard his parent's conversation, though he barely ever thought about it. "Stardust, come here!" called out Stardust's father. Tornado padded up to Stardust with a proud expression on his face. "Yeah?" chirped Stardust. "Well." Tornado swept his gaze over the young tom, and continued, "You're growing quite big, well, I mean, bigger than your littermates. It's time I teach you how to hunt, and a few basic fighting moves."